The rest of the Royal Mile

This was my alternative trip as I had cancelled my 3 week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia which had been due to start on the 7th March. After visiting Lincoln I then came to Edinburgh, a city I had not seen for decades. As I am sure many of you realise I am writing this retrospectively as I am now entering the 4th week of lockdown, details of which I will bore you with at a later date!

On my first full day in Edinburgh I visited the Holyrood Palace and Abbey in the morning as well as climbing up Arthur's Seat (previous post).

 

 It was now past lunchtime and I was too hungry to want to search for somewhere to eat. On the way back to the Royal Mile I passed the Scottish Parliament building which had a public entrance. A perfect place for lunch. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed. The building is opposite Holyrood Palace and caused a lot of controversy due to the high cost. Once  I had eaten in the cafe I then went into the chamber to listen to a debate. Why? Well really just because they said I could. The chamber only had a few Scottish members of Parliament debating apprenticeships. I only stayed there for a few minutes as that was enough.  

The Scottish Parliament building was designed by the Barcelona based architect Enric Miralles at a cost of £400 million. The original estimate was £40 million!



These outer walls have extracts of Scottish literature embedded in them.

This is St Giles' Cathedral which is near the top of the Royal Mile. St Giles is the patron saint of Edinburgh. The tower dates from 1495 and the rest of the church from the 15th and 16h centuries.

 This window is dedicated to Robert Burns who is regarded as Scotland's National Poet. He was born in 1759 and his birthday is celebrated each year around the country and throughout the world. There was  a long held complaint that Edinburgh lacked a significant memorial  to Robert Burns and so in 1982 the Cathedral agreed to fitting a Burns window in a prominent position above the West Door. The window was designed by Leifur Breidfjord, an Icelandic artist.

One of the treats of the Cathedral is the Thistle Chapel brimming with spectacular woodwork. It was constructed in 1911 and is home to the Order of the Thistle, Scotland's chivalry order.

There are figures carved into the high ceiling, including a pelican, an old Roman symbol of christianity. I looked and looked but couldn't see it.


However, I did find the angel playing bagpipes.

Continuing my walk along the Royal Mile I came to this alleyway which led me to Riddles Court.  Built in the 1590s Riddle's court was home to a wealthy merchant. It has recently been restored and is now used as a wedding and events venue.

At the other end of the Royal Mile from Holyrood Palace is Edinburgh Castle, standing atop volcanic rock it reflects 1000 years of Scottish History. To enter the castle you cross the Esplanade, the setting for the annual Military Tattoo.

I walked up to the Argyle battery to see the one o'clock gun. So named as it is fired everyday at that time, a tradition dating back to 1861.

From the battery you have tremendous views over the city..

Another cannon on the battery is Mons Meg. Probably the world's most famous medieval gun. It was built to smash castle walls. The French Duke of Burgundy paid to have the gun made in 1449. In 1457 the gun arrived in Scotland as a gift to James II from the Duke.

This is St Margaret's Chapel, the oldest building inside the castle. It was built in about 1130.

Inside the castle is the Crown room where the Scottish Crown jewels are displayed but no photography allowed. The jewels consisted of the crown, sceptre and sword of state used in the coronation of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1543.

In this antichamber the ceiling and walls were decorated in 1615-17 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Mary's son becoming King James Vi.

The Great Hall was built for James IV (1488-1513) for ceremonial occasions but was converted to a soldier's barracks by Oliver Cromwell. Restored in1887 and used today for State and Royal functions.

The hammerbeam roof still has the 500 year old original timbers.

There is also a military prison in the castle. It was built in 1842 and extended in the 1880s. It was last used in 1923

I left the castle and returned to the hotel.  I had managed to see most of the main sites today and was tired by the time I got back to the hotel. I climbed up to the top floor, and yes it was a long way but I don't care as I now have a big window and the same facilities as the other room so I was pleased.
After a short rest and bite to eat I went out again to the theatre which was a 5 minute walk away. I had managed to get a ticket for £20 just four rows from the front to see The Lion King. I have seen it before a number of years ago in the West End.  I was not disappointed by the production and loved every minute of it. Little did I realise how much things would change overnight. That was exactly four weeks ago that I went to the theatre. The following day it was announced there would be no more gatherings of large numbers of  people in Scotland. The build up to lockdown had begun. I was a little concerned that I had visited the theatre surrounded by hundreds of people but there was little I could do about that situation. I stopped eating out and only ate in the hotel room with food I had bought. I still had two more days in Edinburgh. From then on I was very careful about keeping my distance from others. There were few tourists in Edinburgh,and the weather was not good, which made sightseeing much easier.